Special section on healthcare information systems

A systematic literature review of healthcare supply chain and implications of future research

Purpose

This paper aims to review the healthcare supply chain (HSC) literature along various areas and to find out the gap in it.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 143 research papers were reviewed during 1996-2017. A critical review was carried out in various dimensions such as research methodologies/data collection method (empirical, case study and literature review) and inquiry mode of research methodology (qualitative, quantitative and mixed), country-specific, targeted area, research aim and year of publication.

Findings

Supply chain (SC) operations, performance measurement, inventory management, lean and agile operation, and use of information technology were well studied and analyzed, however, employee and customer training, tracking and visibility of medicines, cold chain management, human resource practices, risk management and waste management are felt to be important areas but not much attention were made in this direction.

Research limitations/implications

Mainly drug and vaccine SC were considered in current study of HSC while SC along healthcare equipment and machine, hospitality and drug manufacturing related papers were excluded in this study.

Practical implications

This literature review has recognized and analyzed various issues relevant to HSC and shows the direction for future research to develop an efficient and effective HSC.

Originality/value

The insight of various aspects of HSC was explored in general for better and deeper understanding of it for designing of an efficient and competent HSC. The outcomes of the study may form a basis to decide direction of future research.

Analysing health data sources to inform chronic disease management decisions of health insurers: A mixed methods study

Background and Objective: Both health care providers and payers recognize the need to improve chronic disease care. Chronic disease management relies on high-quality health information for people with, and at risk of developing, chronic diseases. This article focuses on the health insurance sector and investigates ways that payment claims data and other data sources can provide useful information to support chronic disease management interventions. Methods and Results: In this mixed methods study, we first examine methods of selecting target populations from insurance claims data for common chronic conditions-diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and mental health disorders. The analysis of claims data reveals data quality issues and indicates that other data sources should be considered to provide additional information. We undertake a qualitative review of factors influencing the development of information systems for chronic disease management that use multiple data sources. Conclusions: Claims data should be supplemented with other data to inform chronic disease management. The article proposes a conceptual framework with four domains that need to be considered when developing chronic disease information systems using multiple data sources-information requirements, data sources, data collection, and information systems integration. There are policy and organizational factors that influence framework implementation.

A panel analysis of the strategic association between information and communication technology and public health delivery

Background

In this exploratory research, we use panel data analysis to examine the correlation between Information and Communication Technology (ICTs) and public health delivery at the country level.

Objective

The goal of this exploratory research is to examine the strategic association over time between ICTs and country-level public health.

Methods

Using data from the World Development Indicators, we construct a panel data set of countries of five different income levels and look closely at the period from 2000 to 2008. The panel data analysis allows us to explore this dynamic relationship under the control for unobserved country-specific effects by using a fixed-effects estimation method. In particular,, we examine the association of five ICT factors with five public health indicators: adolescent fertility rate, child immunization coverage, tuberculosis case detected, life expectancy, and adult mortality rate.

Results

First, overall ICTs’ factors substantially improve a country’s public health delivery on the top of wealth effect. Second, among all the ICTs’ factors, accessibility is the only one that is associated with improvements in all aspects of public health delivery, while the contributions from the usage, quality, and applications are negligible. ICTs’ accessibility factor is associated with a considerable extension to life expectancy and reduced adult mortality rate. Third, all entity-specific factors are significant in each model, indicating that countries’ economic development level does influence their public health delivery.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that ICT accessibility has a strong association with effective delivery of public health. There are others, but the key strategic applications are eHealth and mHealth. The findings of this study will help government officials and public health policy makers to formulate strategic decisions regarding the best ICT investments and deployment. For example, the study shows that providing accessibility should be a critical focus.